In a display of balanced team scoring, 14 different Wolverines hit the scoresheet in Michigan’s 6-2 win over Boston University at Yost Arena Saturday night.
“We have a lot of players that we think can take advantage of their chances,” said Michigan head coach Red Berenson of the balanced attack. “It could be one or two players or lines one night, and then another two players or lines another night. I think we have four lines that have a chance of scoring.”
Freshmen led the way offensively for Michigan, as Ben Winnett, Max Pacioretty, Carl Hagelin and Louie Caporusso accounted for the first four Wolverine goals. Of the 24 goals scored by Michigan to date this season, 13 have come from freshmen.
Michigan goaltender Billy Sauer came up with a second straight night of solid play, stopping 22 of 24 Terriers’ shots.
After being totally dominated by BU the previous night, Michigan jumped quickly on the Terriers right off the opening faceoff.
Winnett notched his first goal as a Wolverine on a nifty play only 42 seconds into the game. Matt Rust held the puck in at the blue line and fed it low to Tim Miller, who backhanded a pass to Winnett in front of the net. Winnett used his backhand to solve Terriers’ netminder Karson Gillespie.
Pacioretty got his first career goal less than two minutes later, scoring at 2:25 on a power play. From the left circle, Aaron Palushaj fed Pacioretty in the slot and the Montreal Canadiens’ first round draft pick buried the opportunity behind Gillespie.
“It is such a relief,” said Pacioretty. “I had a feeling I was going to get it tonight. Everyone kept saying ‘give Max the puck’ in practice, so I just had a feeling all day that it was going to happen tonight.”
BU turned a mishandled puck by Sauer into a power play goal at 1:38 of the second period. When Sauer fanned on a passing attempt behind the net, Chris Higgins pounced on the loose puck and centered it to Jason Lawrence who deposited it in the empty Wolverine goal.
Michigan struck back with their own power play tally at 5:42 of the period on a blue line to blue line pass from Mark Mitera to Hagelin. The pass sent Hagelin in alone on Gillespie and the Michigan freshman beat the BU netminder high stick side.
Michigan turned up the heat even higher offensively in the final stanza on goals by Caporusso, Travis Turnbull and Chad Kolarik.
Nick Bonino scored BU’s only other goal with seven seconds left in the game on a goal mouth scramble in front of Sauer.
The victory was Michigan’s fourth straight since an early season loss to Minnesota, while the Terriers remain winless.
BU (0-4-1, 0-1-0 Hockey East) travels to Providence Thursday night for a mid-week contest before finally coming home to take on Mass.-Lowell next Saturday. Michigan (5-1-0, 2-0-0 CCHA) heads back out onto the road for a two-game set at Nebraska-Omaha next weekend.
